Insane Possibilities

by Carol Plum-Ucci

The night before his eighteenth birthday, Toby Kellerman fell ninety feet down a well. Seven weeks passed in what he describes as “suspension h***,” a rotating bed for spinal cord injuries compounded by bone breaks. Able to move only his arms and watch life through an adjustable mirror, Toby had plenty of time to think about how he got there. Somebody had pushed him.

He could clearly remember running footsteps as he stared into the black well with his two younger sisters. They’d been on family vacation. Nobody knew them. There was no motive.

An Anglican priest, on an evening stroll past the site, saw the brother and two sisters but nobody else. It had been dark. The police started to believe the attempted murderer could have been one of Toby’s sisters. Grace was a bouncy, bubbly 15-year-old with a ton of friends. Trinity was “special.” With a stratospheric IQ, the 11-year-old had trouble talking and was considered a cutter, thanks to a compulsive habit of scratching her face. But Toby had developed a special bond after she’d been mauled by a dog six years earlier.

With the help of a girl on his rehab ward, Toby begins to see that the accident smells of a haunting. He never paid much attention to local Lake Indor rot about a witch with a meat hook, but investigation has him realizing that the 18th century orphan likely died falling down a well...and likely the same well he went down.

It’s not a comfortable position, being totally confined, while things start to move around the room, drawers begin to open and shut by themselves, and someone or something keeps pulling off the sock in his blind spot and scratching his leg.

Where is the truth? Has he unwittingly picked up a malevolent spirit, or is he imagining it all to protect his beloved youngest sister?

404 pages, Hardcover

Published November 14, 2024

About the author

Carol Plum-Ucci is a young adult novelist and essayist. Plum-Ucci’s most famous work to date is The Body of Christopher Creed, for which she won a Michael L. Printz Award in 2002 and was named a finalist to the Edgar Allan Poe Award. Describing her subjects as "the most common, timeless, and most heart-felt teenagers," Plum-Ucci is widely recognized for her use of the South Jersey shore to set scenes for engaging characters embracing suspense themes.

Reviews

[Tianne Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book that was hard to put down. I firstly likened it to Joni the story of Joni’s Diving accident. It then started to take the twists and turns. The journey is great and well I didn’t think it would end in that way. You follow the journey unpacking the past of the family and its complexity. A book well worth reading

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Carole O'Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insane Possibilities – Which should you believe?

The thought of falling down a well thirty feet and surviving is enough to make you wonder
whether you had an active guardian angel keeping you alive. Toby Kellerman only new he didn’t fall. Somebody had pushed him. He was even convinced he heard footsteps behind him as he was staring into the well.

He spent the next seven weeks at the hospital in a kind of body cast on a bed that rotated every few minutes. He was only able to move his arms and watch his surroundings through an adjustable mirror. His mom stayed with him most days, but at eighteen, he was more interested in using his cell phone to check in with his friends to hear what he was missing. However, he spent most of his time trying to figure out who could have pushed him into that well.
With the help of a young girl on his rehab ward, familiar with hauntings, Toby began to put the pieces together.

I don’t normally read about paranormal happenings, but even though there were definite moving objects in the hospital room, I never quite believed a ghost was causing the upset.
Should he believe the police theory that one of his sisters was responsible? But which one?
Grace - the popular fifteen-year-old with lots of friends, or Trinity – the eleven-year-old with special needs.

This book kept me turning the pages for the answer. Just when I believed I’d figured it all out, the next page had me convinced it was someone else. Carol Plum-Ucci has done a wonderful job of character development and certainly has gained a reader for her next novel – even if the genre is paranormal.

[Carol Stefanik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good story. I felt the author had a strong grip on an accurate view of her young characters. I hesitated to pick it up because I'm not that much into paranormal and to tell the truth, she keeps you guessing whether it is about paranormal activity or a disturbed individual. The plot has a solid build and the characters are fully fleshed out. Well written and good reading for a large age range.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really well done novel, it had that feel that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall feel of this. The characters were everything that I was looking for and enjoyed getting to read this. Carol Plum-Ucci wrote this well and can't wait for more.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Emily Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toby thought the accident was the worst that could happen. Now his life has gotten down right scary. Things are moving for no reason. What is happening? Who or what tried to kill him? Haunting read.